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ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – After more than two months of dangerous undercover work, with agents buying heroin from suspected dealers on both sides of the Mississippi River, law enforcers dropped the hammer starting before sun-up Tuesday.

Harry Summers, Special Agent in Charge for the St. Louis Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, says agents fanned out in several area counties and began making arrests.

“We have targeted heroin traffickers in the four corners of our community,” Summers explained as he oversaw operations from DEA headquarters downtown. “This is not a specific organization, necessarily, that were all strung together in some type of group or organization. They are heroin traffickers who are strung out across our community.”

Organizers of the crackdown anticipate making more than 100 arrests in an operation that could last through the end of this week.

St. Louis police chief Dan Isom, who was also on hand to watch the coordinated busts go down, notes that this is only the first phase of an operation targeting those who buy, sell, and supply a cheap, deadly form of heroin that’s been making inroads throughout this region in recent years.

“The message is: if you’re out there either using or dealing heroin, we’re coming after you,” Isom said.